South Park Republican

"South Park Republican" is a term that first circulated in blogs and articles on the Internet between the years circa 2001 and 2002, used to describe what some modern commentators describe as a "new wave" or generation of young adults and teenagers who hold center-right political beliefs that are, in general, aligned with those portrayed in the popular American animated television program South Park. The phrase was coined by commentator Andrew Sullivan in 2001.[1]

South Park co-creator Trey Parker is actually a registered member of the Libertarian Party.[2] Fellow co-creator Matt Stone sums up their views with the comment, "I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals."[3]

Origin

In an online forum (South Park Studios Chat, 10 May 2001),[4] Parker and Stone responded to a participant's question:

Q: Are you two guys liberal or conservative? Me and my friends have had debates about this.
Parker: We avoid extremes but we hate liberals more than conservatives and we hate them [conservatives].
Stone: I hate conservatives but I really fucking hate liberals.

In August 2006, Parker, Stone, and Sullivan headlined a conference in Amsterdam hosted by the libertarian monthly magazine Reason. During an on-stage interview with Reason editors Nick Gillespie and Jesse Walker, Stone and Parker reaffirmed their discomfort with labels while acknowledging that their political views could be described most accurately as libertarian and rejected the direction of the Republican Party that they described as "more government and more Jesus".[5] John Tierney documented the declaration on the pages of The New York Times a few days later in a column called "South Park Refugees".[6] "South Park Libertarians," an edited version of the interview, appeared in the December 2006 issue of Reason.[5][6]

Trey Parker was asked about the term in an interview for his feature film Team America: World Police, and what he thought about it:[7]

Q: I don't know if you've heard about this, but there have been essays written about the concept of the "South Park Republican."
Parker: Yeah, we have seen that. What we're sick of—and it's getting even worse—is: you either like Michael Moore or you wanna fuckin' go overseas and shoot Iraqis. There can't be a middle ground. Basically, if you think Michael Moore's full of shit, then you are a super-Christian right-wing whatever. And we're both just pretty middle-ground guys. We find just as many things to rip on on the left as we do on the right. People on the far left and the far right are the same exact person to us.

In another exchange from the same interview:

Q: You seem to feel free to roast everybody equally.
Parker: Everybody needs a good roasting.
Stone: It's been pretty funny on both sides.
Parker: And it comes from an honest belief we have, which is...George Bush doesn't know what's going on. Michael Moore does not know what's going on. And Alec Baldwin definitely does not know what's going on. Basically, this shit is gigantically complicated.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Anderson, Brian C. (Autumn 2003). "We're Not Losing the Culture Wars Anymore". Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  2. ↑ Winter, Bill. "Trey Parker – Libertarian". Advocates for Self-Government. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  3. ↑ Tierney, John (2006-08-29). "South Park Refugees: Republicans can't count on the votes of "Team America"". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  4. ↑ South Park Studios Chat with Matt and Trey
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Grigoriadis, Vanessa (2007-03-08). "Still Sick, Still Wrong". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-11-09. Earlier source where the South Park creators disagree with the term.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Nick Gillespie; Jesse Walker (December 2006). "South Park Libertarians: Trey Parker and Matt Stone on liberals, conservatives, censorship, and religion.". Reason magazine. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  7. ↑ Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk Team America: World Police